A Comparative Analysis of Decylamine and Phenol in Water-In- Oil Emulsion Demulsification Process

摘要

Crude oil is seldom produced alone. (Lake & Fanchi, 2006). Its production will usually beaccompanied by water (in the form of free water or emulsions). This causes increased corrosion of the pipelines,increased pumping costs, increased cost of transportation, et cetera. Therefore, there is a need to separatewater from the crude oil in crude oil emulsions. This study employed the bottle test method to compare theperformance of the chemical demulsifiers - decylamine and phenol – in the demulsification of water-in-oil crudeoil emulsions. The crude oil emulsion sample used was taken from an offshore well located in the Niger Deltaregion of Nigeria (West Africa). Similar volumes of the emulsion sample were then collected in a series ofgraduated tubes and known amounts of the chemical demulsifiers were added to the tubes. The tubes were thencentrifuged. The amount of water separated was measured and recorded for various dosages of the demulsifiers– 0.2 ml, 0.4 ml, 0.6 ml, 0.8 ml, 1.0 ml, 1.2 ml and centrifugation times of 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 minutesrespectively. Results obtained show that decylamine performs faster and separates a higher volume of waterthan phenol. It is therefore recommended that decylamine be selected over phenol in the demulsification ofwater-in-oil crude oil emulsions originating from the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.